Enterprises invest in ERP/CRM because they are seeking an opportunity to standardize business processes while rationalizing siloed environments. Consumer-driven markets have increased the need for large organizations to listen to their customers, driving the adoption of CRM applications enabled by mobile devices and social media. But investing in these packages is only the first step. Companies must follow up with the right steps to maximize their return on these software investments.

In a recent post, I shared a "Bill of Rights" of sorts to drive businesses through analytics. One of these "Rights" is using the right tools and technology. A defining characteristic of the right tool is its seamless, globalized presence and availability across the enterprise especially, when it comes to business intelligence. When you read Drew Robb's post in enterpriseAppstoday, you will see that Microsoft has taken business intelligence to a global level, from multiple perspectives in the latest set of upgrades, to the Dynamics ERP suite.